Urge rejection of President's budget request for $400.9 million for MEADS

U.S. Senators Mark Begich (D-AK) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are leading an effort to eliminate funding for a mobile air defense system that the Pentagon has said it does not intend to procure.

In a letter yesterday to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senators Ayotte and Begich, along with several colleagues, cited their concerns that the President’s 2013 budget request includes $400.9 million for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program, despite current law which states that fiscal year 2012 funding represents the final funding for the program. The Pentagon has said it does not intend to use the program, which has been plagued by consistent scheduling delays, cost overruns, as well as an overall failure to deliver results.

“The Department of Defense has stated that it does not intend to procure MEADS,” the Senators wrote. “Facing a serious fiscal crisis, we cannot afford to spend a single additional dollar on a weapons system such as MEADS that our warfighters will never use.”

Legislative language included in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) stated that this year’s funds would be “final obligations” of funding for MEADS, reflecting Congress’ intent to end funding for the program. But the Department of Defense has requested an additional $400.9 million for MEADS in fiscal year 2013, which would violate the NDAA provision.

We write to express our opposition to the President’s $400.9 million request in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget proposal for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).

Our nation confronts a $15.5 trillion national debt, and the Department of Defense is being forced to cut $487 billion from its budget over the next nine years. The Department of Defense has stated that it does not intend to procure MEADS. Facing a serious fiscal crisis, we cannot afford to spend a single additional dollar on a weapons system such as MEADS that our warfighters will never use.

For years, MEADS has been plagued by consistent scheduling delays, cost overruns, as well as an overall failure to deliver results. As stated in a February 2011 Office of the Secretary of Defense document, the program’s poor performance “might ordinarily make it a candidate for cancellation.” However, the international component of the MEADS program, as well as a desire by some to continue the program in a “proof of concept” phase, has resulted in the expenditure of hundreds of millions of additional dollars on a system that should have been canceled years ago. As the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last year, the Army has already invested over $2 billion into a failed system that will never be procured by our military. Reflecting this troubled MEADS history, section 235 of the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) states that not more than 25% of the funds authorized can be obligated or expended until the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress a plan to use such funds as “final obligations.”

The 2012 NDAA clearly states that this year’s funds would be the “final obligations” of funding for MEADS. We strongly urge you not to allow the Department of Defense to act in contravention of the law and to therefore not allocate any additional funding for MEADS. We hope that both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee will reiterate the requirement for the Department of Defense to provide a plan for the use of the FY 2012 MEADS funding as a final obligation.

We note that this plan must include a description of how the Secretary of Defense plans to address the future air and missile defense requirements, including a summary of activities, the cost estimate, and the funding profile necessary to sustain and upgrade the Patriot air and missile defense system. While the Pentagon has continued to waste tax dollars on MEADS, the Department of Defense has failed to fully modernize its Patriot Program. We are concerned that the Army has not yet presented to Congress a prioritized plan to support the long-term requirements for modernizing the Patriot system, which will be operational at least through 2042. The President’s $400 million request for MEADS would be better spent paying down our national debt or fully upgrading the Patriot system.

In the midst of our nation’s fiscal crisis, we must ensure every dollar invested in defense supports our warfighters and improves military readiness. Thank you for your important work and leadership on the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations committees. We look forward to working together to curb wasteful spending while ensuring that we maintain a strong national defense.